It’s been almost a year (took awhile to write this!) since completing my first full Ironman, and for those of you who’ve asked, or wanted to ask, here’s how it went.
Pre-race Recce
Visiting the course 3 weeks before helped immensely, especially the bike course for me. I got acquainted with the climbs I was going to face (twice!) on raceday. I was previously stalking other people’s Strava rides to get a sense of the elevation but it isn’t quite the same until you are huffing and puffing up those climbs.
For most people who’ve never done a triathlon where T1 and T2 transition points are located in different places, getting familiar with where they are and how to get there are important as well. Hats off to some of my team mates who didn’t come for the recce, and only arrived <24hrs before the race. Not something I think I would be able to mentally handle.
Great to get a feel of the scorching weather too, which sadly (in a perverse way) didn’t come into play on raceday.
Hamstrung
Got some interesting news 3 days before raceday. That nagging pain I was having in my left butt was a 0.5cm tear at the top of my hamstring. Doctor said I needed to rest it completely, so a 3.8km swim, 180km bike, and 42km run wasn’t something he’d recommend. He explained how if I kept going, that the one of 3 muscles in my left hamstring could snap completely. He gave me a skeptical look and said “I think you’re still gonna do it anyway.”. I replied, “I think you’re right.” He told me he wasn’t going to give me any painkillers, as that would mask the pain, and I would keep pushing. Possibly till some serious damage was done.
So with that, my game plan for the race was to “take it easy”, i.e. I would do what I could, and if the hamstring gave me more trouble than what I was familiar with, I would call it a day.
Flight and transportation
I’ve never seen a flight packed so full of triathletes. Got to the airport even earlier than the 2 hrs recommended in case the flight got overloaded with bike boxes. Some folks who flew Malaysian Airlines from KL had their bikes delayed, probably because of this.
On arrival, there was a great big cluster@#$^ waiting for bike boxes. Turns out there was another entry point at the other end of the airport where they were also offloading bike boxes, which of course I only realised after waiting for dunno-how-long. #malaysiaboleh
Strongly recommend renting a car to get around the island. Had a solid deal from Zaemi from booth 2 when you are exiting the airport. Easily contactable for bookings and decent rates (about RM100/day) at +60 11 1248 8838. The Perodua Myvi and Axia are standard issue, unless you need something more spacious.
Race check-in and Expo
There wasn’t any special AWA queue (Ironman All World Athlete, to recognise people who’ve taken part in too many races), but it was fine given the queues moved quickly. What was a bit unusual was the weigh-in, which made me feel like I was going into some boxing match. Apparently they weight you after the race too, which I don’t recall happening.
This was easily the best expo I’ve come across. It was spacious and airconditioned, and had lots of stuff to make you spend money. Those notoriously overpriced Ironman T-shirts with all the participants’ names on it were flying off the shelves, with certain sizes already sold out. Another reason to come at least 2 days before the race. On the other end of the scale, the Bintan 70.3 I did this year felt like some kampung race.
Accomodation
Given this was a full Ironman, I didn’t fancy think I’d be able to move much further than the finish line. (Good call!), so the Meritus Pelangi was the choice. Thankfully it was not as highly priced as I remember other official race hotels to be.
Race morning
With the half-distance guys starting early, the breakfast area was pretty quiet. The road into Danna was jammed full of cars. We parked the car just off the road (because malaysia, everywhere can park) about 200m before the turn into Danna, along with 385362 cars. Put the water bottles and gummies on the bike, pumped the tyres and went to the swim start. Dropped the special needs (plastic) bags at the designated lorries and off to warm up in the water.
Swim
The rolling start was good – no crazy arms and legs everywhere and I could get into the swing of things. Almost no currrent, and the course was marked out very well with flags on top of the buoys. I went out conservatively on the first lap, and got into a good rhythm. Second lap out, I decided to push a bit harder as I felt pretty good. started kicking harder, with faster arm cadence. Got out of the water feeling like the day wasn’t going to be so bad. Wrong.
Transition 1
Got the blue bike transition bag and went into the changing tent. Should have put in a towel to help dry the feet before putting on the socks. Haven’t put on socks for a triathlon since… dunno when, but wanted to make sure the feet were as comfortable as they could be for the long day ahead.
Bike
The bike leg was held on semi-closed roads, with police at major traffic junctions to hold back traffic. But due to the fact that people could still drive out of their homes and onto the course meant you’d have to be alert to your surroundings.
Cycling has been my weakest of the elements, plus I now had a new position as I had to switch aerobars – one of the clamps had broken as I hadn’t tightened the bolts evenly when I last reassembled the bike. Oh… and that hamstring injury too?
My new ProfileDesign T3+ aerobars were a higher-sitting setup from the T-MAG aerobars I previously had on, meaning I was sitting more upright. This seemed to pass on more weight to the butt which is fine if you’re taking a leisurely ride around east coast park on a regular cushy bike saddle, but I felt like my nuts were being crushed. Not ideal.
The first batch of hills up to Datai were as expected, and felt shorter than I remembered. But after descending and starting on the flats, my back started to act up. It’s been a recurring problem since piling on the mileage, and the only relief is to just get off and stretch. I lost track how many times I had to do this, losing a gazillion minutes getting overtaken by everyone and their grandma.
I take solace in the fact that I managed to get through all the climbs without getting off to push, and went down those descents with minimal braking. Maybe too tired to think about the danger. Heard from Raymond that he got overtaken going downhill by someone who then smashed into a dog that decided to cross the road, with both wheels flying off and rider landing with a sickening crack. Not sure if the snapping of carbon fibre, bones, or both.
Was going up the last incline >20km from the finish when this guy crawling up suddenly turned into my path, forcing me off my bike. Cussed, but he apologised, and I had to push the rest of the way because no way I could start moving again on that incline. 😦
Met Derek from the AGRR KL crew in his distinctive pink+black and chatted awhile. Apparently I had one more bridge to climb on the way back to T2 I wasn’t aware of. Ooops.
Biked the last couple of km with an Indian dude who was asking what bike time I’d clocked so far, and when I told him about 7.5hr, he said something along the lines of us being able to make the cut off. I’d forgotten to set my garmin to NOT auto-pause when stopping for my stretch breaks, which is not ideal when you’re trying to make it under a specific cut-off time.
Transition 2
Didn’t think of it much, but was happy to throw the bike aside and put on the running shoes. Fresh socks! Yay!
Run
Based on the time of day, I thought I could walk the whole 42km. Alex overtook me on what was probably his last lap, saw Chris and Almeric heading back up toward the expo. Raj was at the finish area, with Nath and Jean around the T-junction. All the familiar faces made it feel much less boring and lonely out there. There was also a group of super enthusiastic young people who were cheering EVERYONE that ran by outside the Honey Badger hostel.
The run didn’t start off as painful as I thought it might have been, and I was moving at 6-7min/km pace. But the fatigued muscles started to tighten up, and had to walk and run. With any hope of a decent finish, I stopped taking in regular nutrition. Bad idea as I started to feel the hunger pangs in the 2nd half of the run. Panicked a little and started to grab bananas and a couple of gels at the next few aid stations. Not sure if this was what gave me a lot of gas and stomach trouble in the last 10+ km.
And those portaloos… very nasty. Decided to ask the nice people who were cheering outside Smiling Buffalo if I could use their toilet. They said “Sure!” and were led me to their pristine WC. Wanted to go back to after the race to have a meal there and say thanks, but sadly not enough time or energy!
That was not the end of it though. Had to deal with a very bloated stomach for the remainder of the day.
Should have packed a headlamp for the special needs bag if I’d known the run course was so poorly lit. The Langkawi run course is on a road that runs the perimeter of the airport, and doesn’t have street lamps. So the creative organisers got a bunch of cars and lined them up along the road with their headlamps on to illuminate what they could. Still, there were sections that were dark, and you could trip on safety cones and end up injuring yourself.
When I felt the hamstring tighten up, I did the math to figure out how much more running I’d need before I could walk the remainder of the distance and still come in before the cut-off.
The course gets lonelier and lonelier as the night wears on. Saw a very different side of Ironman that I’ve never seen before. The aid stations going the opposite way were starting to close, and organisers were yelling something at the runners. Can’t recall if that they were encouraging them that they had just made the cut off, or scaring them into moving faster because they were in danger of getting cut off. Maybe both. The headlamps of some cars had gone dark, and some aid stations were abandoned. The remaining spectators looked on in awe and bewilderment at the “walking dead” shuffling about in semi-darkness.
The strangest thing I remember is in the last kilometre, a car full of men pulled up alongside me and told me I’d better hustle in case I get cut off. The driver then said he knew Singapore’s president, and that she lived in Yishun. I updated him and told him she had moved out/was moving out. He urged me to get running again, so with about 400m to go, i started shuffling with 2 legs that were stiff as hell. That’s when I started seeing TriEdgers appearing, first with Antoine, then Christophe, then the rest who had been waiting up for me screaming “SLOWPOKE!!!”. (Thanks Aylwin?) Staggered across the line, and that was done.
Watching the race
Langkawi isn’t a very convenient course for spectators. With the start, T2 and the finish in different places, there’s travelling to be done if you want to see your loved one throughout the race. Best mode of transport would be scooter (if you know how to ride one). Swim start is cordoned off and too far away from spectators, so swim finish is where you can catch a glimpse of going into transition. Those 3 long hills along the Langkawi highway are great to stake out your loved ones and yell your encouragement since they’re forced to slow down. Best place to watch the run is from the T-junction just a few km from the Meritus, going towards the airport.
Celebrations
Thank you dear TriEdge team mates who had already finished half or full ironmans earlier in the day, and still waited for me till I crossed the finish. I’ve never seen/heard/experienced that kind of welcome at the end of a race, and probably never will again.
And the awesomest champagne welcoming party – Alex, Almeric, Aylwin, Christel, Christophe, Doug, Hazel & Desmond, Raymond.
Special thanks to best supporter ever, Jean, who wasn’t just supporting me, but the whole team as well.
To give you a sense of what it took me to get here, watch this:
https://2017.strava.com/en-us/videos/2b57d482af64351aa00e8247b82b022821d19ac9/
jljl: my life in briefs 